Mennonite Women Voices

Loving our Neighbors | Amando a nuestro prójimo

This article by Tammy Alexander was originally published in the Winter 2018 issue of Timbrel, Finding Sanctuary. The Spanish version is available at the bottom of this post.

Loving our neighbors: Sanctuary, dignity and safe spaces

Edith Espinal calls Columbus Mennonite Church home—in a very literal sense. She has not left the church building since October 2, 2017. She sleeps there, eats there and spends all of her days inside the church walls. If she leaves, Edith is at risk of being deported and separated from her family and from the community she has called home for more than a decade.

Edith is married with three children, two of whom are U.S. citizens. She had applied for asylum, citing threats of violence in Mexico. Gaining asylum can be a difficult legal process, given the challenge of proving the existence of threats and violence to a judge’s satisfaction. Her initial application and an appeal were denied and she was forced to buy a plane ticket to Mexico for October 10. Edith chose not to leave but instead to seek sanctuary—to live inside a church where immigration officers generally will not conduct enforcement operations.

Columbus Mennonite had not declared itself a sanctuary church before it came into contact with Edith. It was due to existing relationships with other churches and organizations in Columbus, Ohio, that they heard of Edith’s interest in seeking sanctuary. These relationships have continued to be key: local congregations deliver meals and handle fundraising to help the family pay bills, now that they have lost Edith’s income. One church provided a laptop for the family. Another organization handles media contacts.

In opening its doors to Edith, Columbus Mennonite became the first church in Columbus to provide sanctuary in recent years and the first Mennonite congregation to publicly have someone living in sanctuary. On the church’s web site, the decision is explained in light of God’s calling to love one’s neighbor:

“We have welcomed Edith Espinal into sanctuary in our church building. Edith is a neighbor. Edith is a mother. Edith is a child of God who fled violence and sought refuge in our country many years ago and wishes to stay united with her family in this city that has become her home.

“When Mennonites tell our history we remember a time when we too sought sanctuary from violence, and came to places like this country. Now we are in a position to offer sanctuary.”

According to Columbus Mennonite member Melonie Buller, the church has discovered that caring for Edith means much more than meeting her physical needs. Buller says they had to ask, “What is it that she needs to be healthy and feel like she still has dignity and respect as a human being? How can we help facilitate that?” Before the deportation order, Edith had been an active person with a job where she frequently interacted with others. Being in sanctuary is a bit like being in prison, or at least under house arrest, Buller explains. Providing exercise, human contact and purposeful work are vital. Equally important are paying attention to her mental health and spiritual needs.

Edith now walks the church stairs almost daily with staff. One member is providing private yoga classes. She is also learning to knit, has joined a comforter-making group and made angel costumes for the Christmas pageant. She uses the church kitchen to cook for her family three to four nights per week and organized and managed the cooking for a recent fundraiser.

Like Edith, 60 percent of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. have lived here for more than 10 years. Under the Obama administration most long-time immigrants without a criminal record were not considered a priority for deportation and many were allowed to stay, provided they checked in regularly with immigration officials. Now, under the Trump administration, those same individuals are being detained and deported.

For the vast majority of undocumented immigrants, there are few paths to legalization. Most would have to return to their countries of origin for 10 years and apply to return in a process that is far from guaranteed. A 2013 bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill would have provided a path to citizenship, albeit a long one. The bill passed in the U.S. Senate but stalled in the House.

Without passage of immigration reform and with an upsurge in enforcement, the need for sanctuary is likely to increase. Immigrants take refuge in churches because they are considered safe spaces under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) directives that restrict immigration enforcement operations at so-called “sensitive locations.” Such locations include churches, schools and medical facilities. However, as the directives are not law, they could be changed—or simply ignored, as there are no specific consequences for violating the policy.

Twenty senators and 84 House memberswrote letters to DHS expressing their deep concern over violations of the sensitive locations policy. If families continue to be targeted at medical centers, parents could avoid taking their children to the hospital altogether, leading to needless suffering, serious health complications or even death.

How can your church respond to the complex needs of immigrants in your community? Not every church can provide sanctuary but all can become active with local organizations that support immigrants. And members can encourage their representatives in Congress to keep sensitive locations such as churches and hospitals safe and to treat immigrants with dignity and compassion (see washingtonmemo.org/immig).

Putting a welcome sign in front of your church is a good first step in following God’s call to love our neighbors. What will your next steps be?

This yard sign was the brainchild of Immanuel Mennonite Church, in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and has been reprinted in batches by people across the United States. MCC photo/Brenda Burkholder.

Tammy Alexander is the Senior Legislative Associate for Domestic Affairs at the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office, focusing on immigration and the environment. Tammy speaks and writes on U.S. policy related to these issues and meets with congressional offices and Administration officials to convey MCC’s perspective on public policy. She has co-chaired the Interfaith Immigration Coalition since 2011. Prior to joining MCC in 2007, Tammy worked as a propulsion engineer on the space shuttle program from 1996-2004. She holds a Master of Arts in International Development from American University and engineering degrees from Purdue University and the University of Tennessee Space Institute.

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